Star Trek: TNG

[esteban miranda]

I've just been re-watching my Star Trek: TNG DVDs.
I'm about 75% done with season 2.
My brother commented that he thought this series was now somewhat dated.
He was not specific about which aspects he found dated but I don't think that he meant in
comparison to current TV product, which he does not watch.
I don't find this series particularly dated, but, with the exception of the Star Trek spin offs, I stopped watching episodic TV series in the late 80's.

One thing I have noticed more on re-viewing is that I can tell which episodes were scored by Dennis McCarthy and which by Ron Jones. Rule of thumb: If, after the episode is over, I remember having heard music, it's Ron Jones. If McCarthy scored it, I am generally unconscious that there was any music. This is not meant as a comment on either composers individual talents; they just reacted differently to the producer's peculiar music requirements.

[Eric W.]

^^ McCarthy had some nice work on occasions, but Ron Jones easily ran circles around him and I'm sorry he had ever left that show.

[Paul MacLean]

Jones' scores were by far the best written for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and arguably the best scores on television at the time.

The sad irony is that the Rick Berman disliked Ron Jones's music and frequently butted heads with the composer about the musical concept of the show.

After Berman took-over, he wanted scores that "didn't get in the way"; i.e. weren't overly exciting or emotional, and melodically vague. Jones on the other hand was adamant that the music needed to enhance the drama -- much like the shows of the original series (an approach which had been Gene Roddenbery's preference incidentally).

Jones' was commited to doing the best possible work, and once or twice even went so far as to hire extra musicians out of his own pocket.

But after after a couple of years, Berman had had enough and fired Jones. And from then on, Next Generation scores mostly resembled rifrigerator hums.

[Eric W.]

^^ Yup. Berman got exactly what he wanted in terms of music from the point he fired Jones on through to the end of Enterprise.

[Bill Williams]

With The Digital Bits' recent announcement that Paramount is planning to reissue TNG this September 4th in a complete series box set (in time for the series' 20th anniversary), I'm wondering just what will comprise the new box set. Will it simply be a repackage of all seven season sets of TNG when it came out in 2002 with all of the bonus features on the original releases, or will it have something new added to it? I'm hoping for the latter, which I hope will include the following new features:

- episode preview trailers and generic series trailers
- From Here to Infinity: The Ultimate Voyage, narrated by Patrick Stewart (which previously appeared on the 2-disc Jean-Luc Picard Collection)
- Journey's End: The Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation, hosted by Jonathan Frakes (never issued on DVD)
- all of the bonus features that appeared on the Best Buy bonus DVDs for seasons 4-7
- blooper reels and outtakes
- all of the text commentaries for the TNG episodes that appeared in the various Fan Collective sets
- the 60-minute Decipher interactive video game "A Klingon Challenge"

I know I'm just shooting on this, since there hasn't been any formal announcement, but hey, it's worth a guess! I'm hoping to have a review of it for the All-New DVD Theater Blog at that time, which I can already tell you will be more personal and sentimental than my other reviews.

[Eric W.]

I'm not buying anything else short of a high def remastering.

[AndyDursin]

I doubt there will be much new...or at least not enough for them to send out review copies

Paramount recently did a full BRADY BUNCH set with new bonus material, but they didn't send out copies for review since it was "basically the same" they told me.

You can bet they won't be sending them out for something that's bound to retail for hundreds of dollars, too!

[Paul MacLean]

I'm not buying anything else short of a high def remastering.

I've wondered for a long time if the Next Generation episodes exist in any kind of film or HD master.

While the show was shot on film, the effects sequences in the early episides have a definite "video" look to them, as though they were generated with 480i NTSC technology. So that leaves me wondering if the episodes even exist as conformed 35mm negatives, or if they merely exist as NTSC tape masters.

If so, they will be 480i for all-time...unless Paramount decides to go back to the original negatives (if they still exist), comform them and add new effects.

If not, TNG may well wind-up looking more antiquated than TOS.

[Eric W.]

I'm not buying anything else short of a high def remastering.

I've wondered for a long time if the Next Generation episodes exist in any kind of film or HD master.

While the show was shot on film, the effects sequences in the early episides have a definite "video" look to them, as though they were generated with 480i NTSC technology. So that leaves me wondering if the episodes even exist as conformed 35mm negatives, or if they merely exist as NTSC tape masters.

If so, they will be 480i for all-time...unless Paramount decides to go back to the original negatives (if they still exist), comform them and add new effects.

If not, TNG may well wind-up looking more antiquated than TOS.

D'oh!!!

[John Johnson]

I'm not buying anything else short of a high def remastering.

I've wondered for a long time if the Next Generation episodes exist in any kind of film or HD master.

While the show was shot on film, the effects sequences in the early episides have a definite "video" look to them, as though they were generated with 480i NTSC technology. So that leaves me wondering if the episodes even exist as conformed 35mm negatives, or if they merely exist as NTSC tape masters.

If so, they will be 480i for all-time...unless Paramount decides to go back to the original negatives (if they still exist), comform them and add new effects.

If not, TNG may well wind-up looking more antiquated than TOS.

I was told that in the early days the series was shot on film then transferred to video for editing. In the UK, the series was released by CIC Video, who handled all the Universal and Paramount titles. A friend of mine who worked freelance for them, told me that the videos were transferred from NTSC copies. To ensure the best picture possible, sacrifices were made. In this case, the sound. The soundtrack was slightly faster than normal. If you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't have found it.

[Paul MacLean]

A friend of mine who worked freelance for them, told me that the videos were transferred from NTSC copies. To ensure the best picture possible, sacrifices were made. In this case, the sound. The soundtrack was slightly faster than normal. If you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't have found it.

I've never seen the videos or DVDs, but when I was in the UK I caught some of TNG on the telly and noticed the time-compression -- the music was clearly in a higher key, and even Patrick Stewart's voice was noticeably higher!

I thought this speed-up only happened when mastering films (24 fps) to PAL (25 fps). NTSC to PAL is time-compressed as well? Weird.

PAL shows which are transferred to NTSC aren't time-expanded (at least the ones I've seen).

In my opinion everything -- TV & movies, video & film -- should all be shot at 25 fps then we wouldn't have these problems!

[Eric W.]

In my opinion everything -- TV & movies, video & film -- should all be shot at 25 fps then we wouldn't have these problems!

Agreed!

[tjguitar85]

I can see what he means about TNG being dated. A few (or more) years ago I remember watching it on TNN after not having seen it in years when the syndicated channel ran it in the wee hours of the morning--I just didn't like it as much. Perhaps TNN's constant marathons sort of oversaturated my desire to see the show. I don't know. But I remember always looking forward to the sunday sci fi night on the local UPN statino which would show a rerun of that week's Voyager, rerun of that week's DS9, and then 1 episode of TNG and TOS. B5 might have been stuck in there as well too. Can't remember.

[AndyDursin]

I can see what he means about TNG being dated. A few (or more) years ago I remember watching it on TNN after not having seen it in years when the syndicated channel ran it in the wee hours of the morning--I just didn't like it as much.

Strange as it may seem, I've never been a huge fan of TNG...nor any of the other Treks save for the Original Series. To me, Berman's shows are colder, packed with more techno-babble, and lack the basic humanity of Roddenberry's series -- even though the Original show was produced on a lower budget and had some comical moments of both unintentional AND the intentional kind.

I think that became quite clear in GENERATIONS, where Patrick Stewart is obviously a superb, classically trained actor, and yet in their shared scenes, he was blown off the screen by Shatner's charisma and warmth. I like Picard just fine, but I don't have the attachment to him that I had for Kirk, which is the same way I feel about TNG compared to the original show (and their corresponding film series as well; there's no arc like Star Trek II-IV in any of the TNG films that's nearly as dramatic or moving as Spock's death).

With this upcoming movie, Abrams needs to return Star Trek to its roots, which is a fundamental balancing of science with humanity, characters who you can still identify with even though the situation is futuristic and fantastic.

Berman, to me, lost his way over the years, appealing to the hard-core Trekkies while losing sight of what made the original "franchise" -- the interplay with Kirk and Spock -- so appealing to viewers far beyond the strictest "sci-fi" set.

[Eric W.]

^^ Berman and his ilk are responsible for the very slow, decade plus long, Alzheimer's like death that Star Trek endured.